United washed out of the Champions League yesterday, conceding two backbreaking goals to Real Madrid almost immediately after Nani was sent off for an unintentional boot into the torso of Álvaro Arbeloa. It was controversial as all get-out—you can see the video here—and surely swung the result.

"There may be people out there in real trouble who need our help and they have to wait because we are tied up with calls like this one, reporting a referee from the television.

"It's no joke. In this case, the man realised his bad judgement and apologised and we decided not to pursue it further. But we can and we do prosecute people for wasting police time and making false reports."